Onpage vs. Offpage Optimization:
A Paradigm Shift in Search Engine Optimization

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What does this mean? Onpage criteria are criteria that are part of the actual web site. If a certain page should appear toward the top of the search engine rankings for "discount auto parts store", then both "discount auto parts" and "store" need to appear within the content of the page. And it is most beneficial if they appear together and in the right order. A page on which the expression appears three times should be more relevant than a page where the expression can be found only once. Then again, if the expressions are listed a hundred times, this would be considered spamming not be beneficial to the ranking. The content mix must read naturally, i.e., the keyword density must be reasonable.

Of course, the lesson to be learned here seems to be that each page must be reworked and optimized to such a degree that the needs of the search engines are met and the page ranks well, right? However, this strategy no longer works ever since Google, Yahoo! and MSN started to rule the search engine landscape. Their algorithms have become much more complex.

Google's new focus on offpage ranking criteria

What has changed here? Their focus has moved more and more from onpage to offpage criteria. These are elements that have less to do with the actual site. As soon as Google introduced link analysis, the death of online criteria was imminent. By analyzing external links that point back to your web site, Google assumes that the more of these inbound links your site has, the more relevant your site is compared to a site that has few or no inbound links. It's like an online vote of confidence.

Here, something called Google PageRank is a quantitative measuring stick for a web site's inbound links. A site with no external links has a PageRank or PR of zero, a site that is extremely well linked could even have a PR10. A "standard" site will usually have a PR4 or higher. But things get more complicated: PageRank is only an external estimate of the data that Google is able to see. Internally, Google has much more detailed information to assess the linking level of a web site. And it's not only important for a site to have as many back links as possible, but these links need to echo the theme of your web site. If your company is selling system backup software, links from a mortgage firm will hardly be beneficial.

Furthermore, there are many more offpage criteria such as the sheer size of the site. If you type in a search such as "flu", the top rankings will be populated by large medical portals with huge amounts of pages as well as content. In addition to that, the age of a web site is important. "Has the site been around for 12 years or has it just appeared 3 months ago?" This does seem to influence the search results.

Offpage criteria increase the complexity of SEO

The relevance of this paradigm shift becomes noticeable during the optimization of a web site. It used to be that the professional search engine marketers understood the onpage criteria extremely well and were virtually able to calculate potential search engine rankings ahead of the project.

With the growing importance of offpage criteria this is no longer possible. Since the external linking structure of a site is so vital, this means that the actual rankings in the end are dependent on much more than internal web site optimization. If the search engine optimization of your site has been unsuccessful in the past, there could be various reasons for this: Possibly your competitor sites are better linked. Unfortunately "better" is tough to define. And using Google's PageRank here is insufficient as well, because this numeric rank indicates very little about the thematic quality of the links.

The solution: a long-term, flexible and dynamic strategy

Thus, optimizing a web site needs to be an iterative process. The site needs to undergo an initial optimization program and should be expanded and grown over time with new and appropriate content. An ongoing linking campaign should also be a vital part of the program.

Even if Google didn't necessarily intend it, the paradigm shift toward offpage criteria means the following for a company: The web site content can no longer be a passive component that just sits around waiting for traffic. It must be actively nurtured and grown. And what better way to attract and retain online customers than by offering them top-quality and ever-changing, fresh content.

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